Retired baseball hall-of-famers love their golf

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.

Being the newest member of the Baseball Hall of Fame doesn't quite entitle someone to a mulligan, but it's close. When Barry Larkin led off the Hall of Fame golf outing yesterday at the Leatherstocking Golf Course, he told the media, "That was 320 right down the middle, gentlemen."

Actually, it was a push to the right, near the trees, but no big deal.

The point is, the annual pre-induction tournament is a reminder that golf and baseball are a good combination. For most of the Hall of Famers who played Saturday, golf is their second favorite sport (and gaining).

"I can't shoot my age any more," Al Kaline said. "I'm 77 and I don't come close to 77." Still, he keeps trying. He told reporters after his tee shot on No. 1, "Why don't you guys go into the trees and kick it out for me?"

"I play to about a 12," said Larkin, who will be enshrined Sunday. "That means I'm OK. There are always a couple of shots that keep bringing me back. It just didn't happen on that first one."

Scott Kim of River Edge, N.J. was down by three, but rebounded for a 3-and-2 win over Long Island Junior Amateur champion Will Bernstein of New York City Friday in the 95th Met Amateur at Nissequogue Golf Club . . . Allison Micheletti said on Facebook that her dad, Joe, the Rangers' TV analyst, caddied for her this week at the Tennessee Open . . . Local pros still are impressed with Quaker Ridge head pro Rick Vershure, who qualified for the U.S. Senior Open -- held this year at the Lake Orion, Mich., course on which he grew up -- but lost his chance to play because he called a penalty on himself. Vershure reported that his irons (a backup set that he usually uses for practice) might not conform to U.S. Golf Association standards. The USGA tested them, after the event, and found them nonconforming.